Won't Let Go
by SereneCalamity
Summary: They found something with each other and they weren't letting that go. Peeta/Katniss/Gale. OneShot.


_I love the idea of these three together. They're all just so hot. The title is from a Rascal Flatts song called_ Won't Let Go. _It's a gorgeous song._

 _Disclaimer: I do not own the characters or the songs, only the story and any mistakes._

 _I will stand by you_  
 _I will help you through_  
 _When you've done all you can do_  
 _If you can't cope_  
 _I will dry your eyes_  
 _I will fight your fight_  
 _I will hold you tight_  
 _And I won't let go_

To begin with, none of them trusted each other. They had learnt a long time ago that you could only rely on yourself, and that the second you put your faith in another person, they were just going to let you down. You also learnt that you needed to put yourself first, and not show any pity or hesitation because that was a weakness that would be preyed upon.

Group homes had been Katniss Everdeen's whole life, since she had been put into foster care when she was eleven. Her parents had been killed in a car crash, and while her younger sister, Prim Everdeen, had found a family quite quickly, she had been left behind. Usually the State tried not to break up siblings, but their main priority was to house as many children as they could, so despite the visits every month or so, the sisters were separated. Katniss felt like crying herself to sleep every night, but she forced herself not too. Even when she was new to the homes, she could tell that things would just turn from bad to worse if she showed she was upset.

Peeta Mellark was an only child. He had been in the system since he was eight. His father had died when he was younger and his mother had taken to drowning her sorrows in a bottle and hitting her son. Peeta had been taken away by the State to keep him safe, if that's what being bounced from home to home with people who only wanted him around so that they could collect his cheque could be called. He had always been quiet, and he got pushed around for it a lot because he didn't fight back. But as he got older, he filled out and became a lot more muscular and the other boys stopped picking on him.

Gale Hawthorne was the one of the three who had been in the system the longest. Both of his parents had died when he was young and he barely remembered them. Initially, because he was young and adoptive parents liked to take on children who were still only babies, there had been a lot of interest, but it all took so much _time_. And eventually he got older and he was still in the custody of the State. He saw people come and go quite often and while he was friendly with some of them, he was careful to never actually make friends. It was too painful to get attached, he learnt that quite early on, and while it was lonely, it was better than getting hurt.

The first time that they met was when Katniss and Peeta were thirteen, and Gale was fourteen. They were put into a group home with about five other children, and when they slept, it was Katniss and two girls stuffed into a single bedroom and the boys all sharing a couple of mattresses. The couple who were looking after them weren't bad people, but they didn't seem to care all that much about them. Which meant when Katniss was feeling sick in her room, and didn't make it down to get something when the woman called out it was time for dinner, she missed out.

She would have gone hungry if Peeta hadn't brought her a couple of cheese buns.

The boy with the bread.

It didn't just suddenly change things. Katniss didn't miraculously stop glaring at everyone or at Peeta, but he sat down next to her in the crowded lounge a couple of times and she didn't move away. And then as time went by, he would make sure that food got saved for her when she had afternoons away to go and see Prim and would get back after dinner. A few months later, Katniss was the one who made the first move to sit down next to Peeta. He was next to Gale, and she looked hesitant about it, but she gave the faintest of smiles before silently sitting next to them and staring blankly at the TV.

Peeta and Gale had struck up a hesitant alliance, as boys who did not want to cause any trouble and just wanted to keep their heads down. They weren't really friends, but they found solace in one another. Then Peeta had started to warm toward Katniss, which by proxy, meant that Gale also started to warm toward her.

They were split up for a while, Gale and Katniss going to a separate home for three weeks, and in that time, they grew close without Peeta. They were very similar; guarded, perpetually angry and snarky. But because of Peeta's previous foundation, they gravitated toward each other. One night, Gale smuggled two joints into the home and late that night, they snuck out into the backyard and smoked them both. They kissed before they went inside, a warm, slightly clumsy kiss that ended as quickly as it had begun.

When they all ended up back in a home together, this time a much more permanent one in the middle of the city, it was clear that Peeta knew about the kiss. It didn't seem as though he minded, and it wasn't as though it was mentioned again. Almost four months went by and while they were all becoming closer, there was nothing more than friendship. Or at least, they weren't acting on anything more than friendship.

Until the last night of school for all of them, and they were meant to be attending an of year dance. Their caregiver probably didn't really believe that _that_ was where they were going, but she was happy to get rid of them for the night. Gale looked older than all of them, and he could charm the woman at the liquor store from a few blocks down the house they were staying in. So he got them a bottle of bourbon and they went to a park and shared the bottle between them.

And they all got really drunk.

And there was a lot of kissing.

Between _all_ of them.

Katniss and Peeta.

Peeta and Gale.

Gale and Katniss.

It just weirdly made sense.

No one felt out of place or jealous, and when they headed back to the house together, well after midnight, Katniss in between them with her fingers linked between both of theirs, there was a weird, warm feeling in each of their stomachs.

They stuck together in the home; when the other kids got angry and started fighting, when Prim moved to the other side of the family and Katniss could only see each other once a month and when Peeta's art work didn't get chosen to be printed in the school paper. They fought their battles together and they triumphed together. They had to be careful, because if their caregiver ever realized they had a relationship, then they would be split up. But it's not like their caregiver really cared, and there were ten of them in total in that particular home, so as long as they didn't draw attention, then they were okay.

Katniss had never imagined a time when she would feel as though she was loved by this many people. She knew Prim loved her.

But now she felt as though Gale and Peeta loved her.

They told her they did.

There were hot, breathy whispers when they could steal moments together. Peeta's hands would be in her hair and his lips would be against the column of her throat and Gale would be gripping her hips with five fingers while his others were pulling Peeta closer to the pair of them.

When Gale turned eighteen, he officially left the home. He had actually planned on leaving a lot earlier, but it was Peeta and Katniss that kept him around. But when he turned eighteen, he was out of there. He had been working after school every day and had been saving his money, so he could afford a tiny rental where the water hardly ever warmed and the light bulbs burst all the time in the lounge. Peeta and Katniss spent as much time there as possible, outside of school and work, and then once they turned eighteen, they moved in with him as well.

For the first time, they all felt like they were safe.

Sure, they lived in probably the most unsafe street in Brooklyn, and they literally piled bricks in front of the door when they went to bed because the lock was completely untrustworthy and the door swung slightly even when it was shut.

But they were together.

They worked at their separate jobs and then reconvened each night and had dinner, which was usually something cheap and easy, because they were all broke and tired by the time night came around.

They slept in the same, skinny bed together, all piled on top of each other.

And they loved each other in the light of the moon that streamed through the thin curtains.

They were holding onto each other, and they weren't letting one another go.

 _Let me know what you guys think :) x_


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